Bridges And Roads: Heed the lessons

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

Published 10:00 pm, Saturday, August 4, 2007

Like Hurricane Katrina, the Minnesota bridge tragedy brings lessons as well as anguish. Americans will be sorting out what the collapse of a busy Interstate bridge means for their own states, their own cities and their own families.

There were surely many Northwest homes where one person looked up from the reports about the Interstate 35W bridge and suggested the entire family stop driving on the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the Evergreen Point Bridge across Lake Washington or some other structure. Many structures that were regarded as wonders of engineering now make us wonder about their engineering, their inspections and what today's engineers really think about their safety.

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The Washington Post pointed out a 2005 study by the American Society of Civil Engineers, which found a need to spend $188 billion over two decades to fix flawed bridges nationally. The society reported some progress in reducing the percentage of problem bridges during the first three years of the Bush administration, as well as in local and state funding for bridge projects. But the engineers said a federal government target for having only a quarter of bridges structurally deficient or functionally obsolete was too modest.

The U.S. Department of Transportation recently rated more than 27 percent of Washington state bridges as deficient or obsolete. While the state, counties and cities have been making changes, they surely will have to continue to step up bridge replacements and inspections.

After Katrina in 2005, state voters decisively defeated Initiative 912's attempts to roll back a gas tax increase for highway and bridge projects. Gov. Chris Gregoire campaigned to keep the tax, warning that an earthquake could cause disasters.

Many bridge issues remain. Voters around Puget Sound will decide in November on a package that includes considerable money for replacing Evergreen Point. The Minnesota disaster will weigh into voting reflections for many of us.

Funding and design decisions take time. In the meantime, inspections will provide a critical line of defense. Minnesota changed something: Even with replacement beginning in two weeks, Clallam County shut a decrepit bridge on Thursday, the Peninsula Daily News reported. Good call.

From the governor on down, officials must now make decisions based on inspections with a new perspective. When in doubt, shut it down.